Black Widows
by White Angel of Auralon
Summary: People believed that they were such great couples. If only they knew. The two sisters were great actresses, who would play their roles until they had reached their goals. Secrets of their family would bring them what they wanted for themselves and their children. Deception was something they had learned from a young age after all. Both would have done well in Slytherin.


**This is my newest one-shot, one going into a bit of a different direction than most. I'm sure some of you have heard of Blaize Zabini's mother being a veritable Black Widow. What if there were others? This is my spin on it.**

**As always, I don't own Harry Potter, just this little idea to play with.**

* * *

Petunia Dursley had a secret. One that her husband didn't know. And she wanted to keep it that way. Her sister Lily wasn't the only witch in the family. Lily was just the one that had attended Hogwarts. That was also the reason why the wizarding world here in England didn't know about her. Both she and Lily had inherited their powers from their father, who was the son of a German wizard that had worked for Gellert Grindelwald, and their mother, who was descended from an important Russian magical clan. As he had fled Germany with his mother, who hadn't wanted her child involved in Grindelwald's vendetta, there were no files on him in England. And Russia didn't keep any files on their magicals for some reason. Petunia had gone to Shamrock Fields in Ireland, where her family had lived before moving to Cokeworth, after their town had become victim of a muggle gang of criminals.

She had continued at her old school, as it wasn't a problem with a portkey provided for her by Shamrock Fields. They had several students coming from England that preferred studying in Ireland. She had never told Vernon about her magic, as the only reason she had married him was that she was after his money. Knowing that wizard gold wasn't any good in the muggle world, and they could only exchange so much gold without being detected by the Ministry of Magic, her family had decided that they had to mingle with the muggles. Their actual family name wasn't going to let them be liked by the wizards in this country. The name Everhart was connected to one of Grindelwald's inner circle: Felix Everhart, one of the top five.

Her grandfather had believed in Grindelwald's vision and had fought hard for the cause. She was proud that he had fought like that for what he believed in. And muggles really were a problem. She had to really suppress her real opinions while living in a purely muggle neighbourhood. Her sister had played along and never mentioned that Petunia was attending a magical school too. Severus Snape actually believed that she was a muggle. So much for a supposed spy. He certainly overlooked the obvious.

Vernon Dursley, her husband, was a beefy man. Petunia would never have married him, if not for the large inheritance and good salary he got. Vernon didn't know that he was living on borrowed time. Some weak compulsion charms and he believed anything she told him. He had already signed five very large life insurance policies, all with different insurance companies of course. Supposedly to ensure his son's and wife's future in case the worst happened. He was after all the only one working, as Petunia was on baby break until Dudley went to nursery school. While Petunia had lost her parents to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, she and her sister were both out to increase the influence of the Evans family again. It was unthinkable that they had to live below their actual station. Why else would Lily had married a prick like James Potter?

He was rich and had some good looks to himself. But the best part was that his parents were already old and wouldn't live that much longer, meaning he would inherit everything. And Lily wouldn't have to do anything to make the process faster. She would be clear of any suspicion in that matter. As James had decided to fight in the war against Voldemort, it was only a question of time until he fell in battle. Lily had told Dumbledore, the old bastard that led Hogwarts, that she wouldn't risk fighting, but work as a healer for the Order of the Phoenix to heal the ones that came out of the battles. Dumbledore never saw through that and accepted her decision easily.

Lily had never shown how good a dueller she truly was.

Petunia was slowly poisoning Vernon in a way that no muggle would detect. Especially not with his figure. It would look like a heart attack, caused by his unhealthy diet. She intentionally didn't reign his bad habits in. She wanted him to die soon, after all, her son would someday start looking more like his actual father. While he was a baby, Dudley wouldn't look much like any of his parents, but from a certain age on, people would notice. Petunia only let Vernon believe that Dudley was his son. It helped keeping up the image of a great family to the muggles. The life insurances for Vernon came up to two million Pounds overall. One of them would pay off the mortgage on the house, which Petunia intended to rent out once she had inherited it. The other four would enable her and Dudley to live a good life without having to work for it.

She knew that her parents-in-law wouldn't live much longer. Vernon's father was already diagnosed with cancer and his mother wouldn't survive her husband much longer. They also hadn't lived healthily and adding the strain of a disease like cancer into the mix, cost strength and nerves. Then Vernon, or in case he was already dead, Dudley, would inherit everything. Petunia had subtly already taken care of Marge Dursley, Vernon's horrible sister. She had had an accident five months ago, which had hit her parents and Vernon terribly hard. She knew she wasn't a good person, but her family had never believed that muggles counted in the great scheme of things.

Her future was looking bright. And it would be child's play for her to act the grieving widow, even if she would secretly celebrate being rid of the fat bastard. What a woman didn't do to get a lot of money.

* * *

Lily Potter could only shake her head at the stupidity of her husband. At least, so far, her plans to gain his money had worked out quite well. She knew that her sister Petunia was also on a good way to become a widow. She wanted to curse her bad luck. James had come very close to dying three times already in battle against Voldemort, but somehow, he managed to get out every time, even if she had to repair a lot of damage done to him afterwards. Not that she didn't use the opportunities to leave a little bit of damage that needed to heal normally. She even told James about that, knowing that believed that even magic didn't manage to cure everything. Some things needed time, but he didn't take the time to cure all of his injuries.

He always had to be in the middle of the action, which would get him killed. She didn't worry about that failing. Voldemort always killed those he wanted to see dead, and James was at the top of that list. She was content to stay at home with Harry, her eleven months old baby. She had needed to have James' son, as otherwise the Gringotts goblins wouldn't grant her the Potter inheritance. Marriage wasn't enough for that. But Harry ensured that once James was dead, she would become regent over the large Potter fortune and sit as proxy for Harry on the Wizengamot. She also had, on the sly, created a muggle identity for her husband, and set up two life insurances for him.

She had more than enough money in muggle currency to pay the monthly rates. At least the next two years would be covered and by then she was sure Voldemort would succeed in his quest. It was a bit annoying to have to move constantly, because their safe house was constantly found, but she could deal with that. She knew that James was too naïve concerning his friends, she knew that Peter was a traitor, but it offered a chance to get rid of James, thus she didn't give him up.

She also agreed with some of Voldemort's goals, but not all of them. Cutting off the muggle influence coming into the wizarding world was sensible. They simply were different people, but it didn't make sense to disregard the danger that muggles posed to wizards and witches. The attacks on muggles were stupid. Much better to take what you needed from that world, mainly because muggles had worked out cheaper production ways for things and leave it at that. Her plan was to buy a muggle-built home somewhere isolated from muggle settlements and then ward it against muggles finding it and equip it with common magical appliances and the like. Harry could grow up there in peace. She would have preferred Potter's Keep, but Voldemort's Death Eaters had burned it down and a repair wasn't really economic.

The main problem was that Dumbledore was a horrible general. Where Voldemort was a bigger problem in the long run, Dumbledore's pacifistic ways cost way too many of his followers their lives. And not all of them should just die like James. Some were people that she wanted to live, but she feared that more would die, listening to the insane plans of the old man, who couldn't bring himself to move decisively against the threat to all their lives. Lily knew that should Voldemort find out who she really was, which wasn't a muggleborn witch at all, he would try even harder to recruit her for his side.

Still, she knew too well that the guy had crossed the border to insanity a while ago. It wouldn't do to get cursed by the cruciatus curse constantly, just because he didn't like the news one of his followers brought. Well, his temper was one reason why she was quite sure that James wouldn't be lucky much longer. One day his luck would run out.

* * *

It was Halloween. Lily was seriously annoyed by how she was stuck all day with James. Voldemort was less effective than she had believed he would be. How difficult could it be to get one man killed? One man that repeatedly fought in the battles against his death eaters and, while she would freely admit that James was a good dueller, he was cocky and didn't take the battles serious enough. If not for Sirius Black, he would have died several times over. While Sirius also was a goofball, at least he knew to not joke around in a duel when it could cost him his life.

If Lily actually wanted James alive, she would be incredibly grateful to Sirius. But in her situation, it thwarted her plans to be rid of James to inherit his money. Harry at least didn't know anything about the things going on outside. If only Dumbledore had informed them much earlier about the threat to Harry. A prophecy of all things that pointed at either Harry or Neville Longbottom being chosen to defeat Voldemort. Only about two weeks ago Dumbledore had finally given them the wording of the stupid thing. And Lily had realised very soon that Dumbledore was setting them up.

He wanted the prophecy to activate, as he couldn't beat Voldemort on his own. How could a baby do what adult witches and wizards failed to do for over a decade? Well, she had prepared in case Voldemort decided that her son was the one mentioned in the prophecy he also believed in. Honestly, why would he care for a baby right now? Anybody with some common sense would rather wait until one of the two that supposedly were the one meant showed any kind of high magical potential.

Had this been her, she would have concentrated on finishing the battle against the Ministry, take over properly, and then keep a close watch on the possible opponent that meant his downfall. He had all the time in the world. Both boys were just fifteen months old. And if he feared he couldn't kill a child that was older, then he certainly wasn't all that powerful. Not that it would help him. She wouldn't let him get close to her child.

Just when she was on the way upstairs to put Harry to bed, she heard the front door being blasted open and James yelling: "Lily, it's him. Take Harry and run away. I'll keep him off!"

Lily didn't hesitate. She was prepared for this. The tell-tale incantation of 'Avada Kedavra' and a loud thumping sound told her that Voldemort had finally freed her from her unwanted husband. Now she only had to survive and get herself and her son away. Well, time to show Voldemort why the Everhart family was feared in Germany during the Grindelwald war.

"Steffy," she called, and a house elf appeared.

"Mistress Lily," the elf greeted.

"No time for explanations. Take Harry to the place we discussed and keep him safe. I'll call when I have dispatched the local nuisance dark lord," ordered Lily and placed the baby into the elf's arms.

Steffy nodded and disapparated with the crying baby boy, who didn't like being separated from his mother. Lily drew her true wand from her boot. One that wasn't registered with the Ministry of Magic. It was time to duel this dark lord and get rid of him. Now this was a personal vendetta. Her husband in battle was one thing, her baby that hadn't done anything to him a completely other.

Predictably Voldemort appeared in front of her.

"Give me the boy and you may live," the man demanded.

"I have already sent him to a safe house to be safe from you. But you will learn that you should have ignored the stupid babbling of a sherry addict. Not to mention that you seem as lousy at interpreting possible prophecies as the bearded old goat," declared Lily.

"What do you mean, mudblood?" asked Voldemort.

"Honestly? What about 'born to those who have thrice defied him' is unclear? As far as I know, I haven't ever met you before today in battle. And that is only because you have decided to attack my baby. Something I will never forgive. I have worked as a healer, not a fighter. Get your stupid facts straight. I know that the idiot Severus told you what he overheard, which is only the first part of the stupid thing. It clearly states 'those' as in plural. James may meet the criteria of that drivel, I don't, meaning, Harry is the wrong target!" exclaimed Lily.

"It doesn't matter, nobody that can pose a threat to my power will be allowed to live," sneered Voldemort, not happy to be contradicted in his interpretation of the prophecy.

"As I said, I will never forgive you the intent to harm my baby. You will fall today, make no mistake," declared Lily.

"And you think you can beat me? When Dumbledore was unable to?" laughed Voldemort.

"Dumbledore is way overrated. The man is a pacifist and can't even accept that in war people die. It's a fact proven in history over and over again. If he had his way, I would just use things like stunners and disarming charms in battle. If I were to battle. But my family has taught me much better," informed Lily Voldemort.

"What could muggles teach you?" scoffed Voldemort.

"Who said anything about muggles?" asked Lily and fired a silent spell to create a ward around Voldemort, which would stay around him, no matter where he moved, then a second one to drain the area around him of all oxygen. Voldemort sure enough felt the effect quickly.

"Like it? That combination was a specialty of my grandfather. It is very effective in taking out opponents quickly. Because, as you will know, every human being needs oxygen to live. Deprive them of it and they will die quickly and painfully. You are at the top of the list of people who deserve it.

"Who are you?" Voldemort rasped, trying to get free from the effect, while shooting curses at Lily, which she easily sidestepped or dodged.

"I am Lily Potter nee Evans. But I guess you want to know from which family I am descended. See, I am no muggleborn. I am a pureblood witch, but my roots lie in Germany and Russia. It was just much better for my family to keep a low profile, as, even if my father was a young child when his mother took him out of Germany for protection, as she didn't want that he was used against my grandfather, people would have blamed him for his father's deeds in the service of Grindelwald. When Grindelwald fell, she made the muggles believe that her surname was Evans, which could be pronounced in English as easily as in German. Everybody believed that my grandmother had fled from the Nazis, who waged war all over Europe at the same time Grindelwald led his war in the magical world."

"It can't be. Not the … suffocation demon … of Germany," rasped Voldemort.

"Felix Everhart," confirmed Lily while watching how Voldemort struggled to stay conscious.

"You … should … support me," Voldemort tried.

"No chance in hell. You are insane and targeted my baby," declared Lily coldly, "Have a nice trip to hell."

Voldemort's seemingly scared look didn't bother Lily at all. She coldly watched how the most feared dark lord of the century lost the struggle against the lack of oxygen. But what happened after he fell still on the ground wasn't something she liked. From his dead body rose a kind of dark ghost.

"Now this is something I could have been happy without. An amateur necromancer," sighed Lily.

"I will have my revenge, Lily Potter. You will pay for doing this," the ghost promised and flew out of the room but was stopped before it could cross the door.

"As if I would let you," she commented, her wand pointed at him, "To think you would be that stupid. But then again, you already believed in a prophecy, when everybody that has some knowledge of Divination knows that all prophecies are highly woolly and can be interpreted hundreds of ways. You even broke the first law of magic."

"What are you talking about, blood traitor?" demanded Voldemort to know.

"Never mess with your soul. Honestly, how stupid can one person be? The soul, as part of what keeps the body alive in the long run, holds the magic in the body. While most people think that the blood carries the magic, which is only somewhat true, as it is charged with it, the soul lets us control the magic in any way. Why else do you think obscurials lose all control over their magic and it takes on a life of its own when those poor children become one? It is the sign of a highly damaged soul," lectured Lily.

"I am immortal, you can't destroy me," yelled the Voldeghost.

"I don't need to," shrugged Lily, "Every soul has a certain life span. The reason why nobody makes more than one horcrux, if they are insane enough to even go that way, is that they don't help the goal of immortality at all. See, the first part you split off, the largest, which carries half of your soul, is the only one that prevents that you die before your natural time is up. Horcruxes, contrary to what books like 'The Darkest Arts' may claim, have been around long before Herpo the Foul. They go back to the ancient pharaohs in Egypt. They were invented to prevent that the pharaoh would die before his natural life was up. Otherwise there would be a lot more immortals running around than Nicolas and Perrenelle Flamel.

"It was seen as acceptable, as pharaohs, before this dark magic was invented, tended to die young for one reason or another. The idea was to allow them to rule and bring stability to Egypt. But the practice fell out of use after the nasty side effects were discovered. Mainly instability of the mind and loss of magical potential and reserves. The reason why books about horcruxes, the few that escaped the attempts to destroy knowledge of this dark art, don't mention that anybody went beyond one of them is also simple. They died while trying to make more. Plain and simple. You were lucky to survive that process. Your insanity tells me the story of you actually making more than one.

"In nearly all cases, the second horcrux ritual damages the soul beyond repair. The main part that is. The body falls apart into something close to an obscurial. There are theories, which couldn't be proven yet, that the dementors of Azkaban are the soul remains of those attempting the second ritual. That's why they can only affect souls, not bodies. It isn't that farfetched when you think about it. But back to you. I only have to lock up your remaining soul for as long as it takes for me to find that first horcrux and destroy it, or until your natural life span runs out."

"You can't lock a soul up," claimed Voldemort, sounding somewhat scared.

"Ever heard of genies?" grinned Lily evilly and swished her wand in a pattern Voldemort didn't recognise, but he felt the effect when he was drawn into a simple pocket watch, which lay on the shelf downstairs.

Lily only needed an object that could be closed, and the pocket watch was as good as anything. She finished her work and checked if the spell had worked like intended. This would be a nice additional windfall of gold for her. She had Voldemort's body that she could show to the Ministry to get the reward that had been placed on his capture or death. They didn't care for that, they just wanted to get rid of him. Well, she had what she had aimed for. Her husband was dead without her involvement, which would have terminated her claim to his money, and she was free to now live her life like she wanted to.

Even if she would become famous over night for killing a dark lord. Well, she would do a better job handling that fame than Dumbledore.

* * *

Petunia looked down at the still form of her husband. In the end, she didn't have to do much. The idiot got himself killed in a traffic accident. It had happened on Halloween, caused by Vernon ignoring the traffic lights switching to red and still racing over the street. The problem in that was that a taxi that was driving some people to a Halloween party hadn't slowed down at the crossing street, as the lights had already been switching to green. Vernon was hit directly and died at the site of the accident. Thankfully, the ones in the taxi didn't get badly injured. Mostly bruises and sprains, from what the police had told her.

Well, the cause of death was clearly an accident. Nothing would stop her from getting the money she had wanted now. Even better, three of the life insurances had accident clauses in them, increasing the amount of money they would pay again. She was set up for life now, at least in the muggle world. But that was why Lily had married James Potter after all. From that side they would get wizarding money. She would have to inform her sister about Vernon finally dying. They would let things calm down and then she might go looking for a new husband. So far, she hadn't met any man that held her interest for long enough to be considered worth keeping around for more than his money. But a witch had needs beyond being financially secure and it wouldn't hurt to continue looking for the right one. If she found another easy victim, well, she could play this game another time again.

Outside she appeared to be attempting to keep her emotions under control. She nodded at the policeman that had called her to identify her husband, as they had found his passport with him in the car. She then was led to sign a few official documents, then she was allowed to go home, with condolences being given by the police officers. Well, they couldn't know that she was happy to be rid of the obese bastard. Now she could move away from that stupid neighbourhood, claiming the memories were too painful for her and that she would rent out the house. She knew that muggles liked properties like that one and most couldn't afford buying a house like that.

* * *

Lily looked at Dumbledore with clear contempt.

"You want me to do what?" she asked in disbelief.

"It would be unsafe for Harry to be that much in the focus after defeating Voldemort," claimed Dumbledore.

"You didn't listen. Harry wasn't even in the house anymore when the bastard arrived. James bought us a few valuable minutes and I called one of the Potter house elves to take Harry away. I took Voldemort down," stated Lily, more than annoyed that he wouldn't listen.

It was clear that he didn't want to hear the truth, instead trying to form Harry into some hero. But not with her.

"I'm sure you did your part in protecting him," Albus started, which Minerva McGonagall, who stood behind him, only frowned about.

"Damn right. As I said, I sent Harry away. Your stupid prophecy has nothing to do with this. Except directing Voldemort towards my baby!" exclaimed Lily angrily.

"Albus, it is clear that you got too hung up with that prophecy," declared Minerva, "I believe Lily when she said that she used the time James bought them to get Harry away. And a mother that protects her baby from harm and has just lost her husband to the man that wanted to murder her baby would manage feats nobody could imagine."

"Thank you, Minerva. At least somebody with sense. And there was nothing difficult about it. I used a basic fact that all healers are aware of. If a body doesn't get oxygen, it dies. Plain and simple. Voldemort died by suffocation," explained Lily.

"How did you manage?" asked Sirius Black, who was clearly shaken at the death of James, but glad that at least Lily and Harry were still alive from what he heard.

He had told her that he had checked up on Peter, to make sure he was still safe, but found his apartment deserted without a fight. That made him hurry to Godric's Hollow, but he was too late to warn the Potters.

"You know I always liked to read up on history. Not to stupid stuff that Binns insisted on droning on and on about, but actually important and interesting parts. Among them was the Grindelwald war. I read that one of his inner circle was known as the suffocation demon and wondered how he would have managed it. A bit of experimenting with charms showed me how it could be done and how to counter it if one of the Death Eaters got the same idea to use against opponents. That was after all a valid worry," answered Lily, "It comes down to a semi-permeable barrier that moves with the body and doesn't allow anything, including air, to pass from the outside to the inside. A cocoon if you so will. Once the oxygen inside that cocoon is used up, the one trapped there first passes out then dies."

"I don't like that you killed him, even if he performed horrible crimes," tried Dumbledore.

"You are joking, right? We are talking about Voldemort here. He would have killed me and then gone after Harry had I not acted like I did. Nobody will miss the bastard. They will celebrate that they are finally free of his terror, once we got the Death Eaters arrested and put on trial. They can rot in Azkaban for all I care," yelled Lily, knowing what Albus was trying. He tried to paint her in a dark light, to not allow her to gain any kind of influence that could top his.

"You are being ridiculous, Albus," agreed Sirius, "Lily freed us from that bastard and we can finally start rebuilding our world, once we put his followers behind bars. I don't know why you want to make my godson into some kind of fantasy figure, but it won't happen. I swore to James that should anything happen to him, I would make sure that his wife and son were taken care of. I will do exactly that. You will keep your nose out of that, it has nothing to do with you."

"They are right, Albus. I always told you Divination was hogwash and that Sibyl was a fraud. You didn't want to believe me, now you see where clinging to one of her prophecies could have led. Had Lily not acted as quickly as she did, not losing her head over losing James like she did, not wasting the time he bought her, we would have lost the whole Potter family. We already lost too many people. It is at an end. We will tell Barty that he can now hunt down the Death Eaters, who will be vulnerable right now, without their leader. Let's use that and not let any of them get away," stated Minerva.

"Very true. Sirius and I will assist with that, as we both inherited seats on the Wizengamot," said Lily, "I will honour my husband's wishes and fight against the darkness. They will not get away. I bet that with the situation being as it is, I can assist you in getting more votes swayed from the neutrals that sat on the fence all the time."

She knew she had to play a certain role. Revengeful widow wasn't too hard to add to her previous one.

* * *

Petunia and Lily sat together in the lounge of Petunia's new house. Thanks to inheriting all that money from Vernon and getting his life insurances paid out, she was set up for life, at least in the muggle world. Dudley and Harry were playing together on a carpet. They had no idea that their mothers' plans had worked out splendidly.

"Lily, we really did it," stated Petunia happily, "We have got enough money to bring back our living standards to where they should be, and that in both worlds."

"Very true, Tuney. And nobody suspects anything. Our husbands did us a favour in dying the way they did. Nothing would ever be connected to our true goals," agreed Lily, "I'm especially happy for you, now you are free of that obese moron. James at least was good-looking."

"Thank you, sis. I'm happy too. Thanks to us moving, nobody will be able to claim that Dudley wasn't Vernon's son when he gets older. With all the money from the insurances, I can set up sound investment strategies that will increase my funds over the years. The house is already paid off and the rent I will get once Number Four Privet Drive has new inhabitants will give me cash to buy those things that are cheaper in the muggle world. I also plan to buy some gold, which I feel will increase in value over the years. Though I will buy it from the goblins and in doubt sell it to the muggles when I think the profit is worthwhile," informed Petunia her sister.

"Sounds like a good strategy," nodded Lily, "The goblins don't care if you store gold bars in your vault after all. And Gringotts is safe to keep valuables, especially now that I took out the problem of Voldemort."

"How much did they pay you for that by the way?" Petunia wanted to know.

"I got fifty thousand galleons from the reward that was placed on his head plus an additional twenty thousand that came with my Order of Merlin first class," grinned Lily, "The committee from the ICW that awarded me the Order was very happy that the threat was ended before he could become as much of a problem as Grindelwald was. If they only knew."

"Indeed. They would be much less appreciative if they knew that the granddaughter of one of the most-wanted criminals during the Grindelwald era was now lauded as a heroine, the brave mother that exceeded herself in protection of her beloved baby boy. Though the hyphenated names that the rag called a newspaper came up with are becoming ridiculous. Honestly, The-Mother-Who-Protected? Or The-Woman-Who-Won? Do they really have nothing better?" questioned Petunia.

"You know that the level of intelligence among the journalists has taken a nosedive over the years. Especially since they hired that Skeeter woman, who can only stir scandals, but lacks any ability to truthfully report anything. Thankfully she won't dare printing any kind of scandalous stories about me, as she knows that I know her little secret of how she gets most of her stories. Thankfully, nobody but us knows of our heritage. We were fully successful in realising our family's plans of how to bring back our financial situation to where it should be. I can also milk my fame for a few years until the story gets old. Then I will use the fact that I am known as the smartest witch of my generation to publish books and gain a steady income from them," revealed Lily.

"You always wanted to become an author. Do you have anything planned already?" asked Petunia curiously.

"Well, as you know, I was very good at charming my way into the good books of all kinds of people. Among them Eileen Snape. Severus doesn't know it, but his mother taught me in Potions while he was in his emo phase. She wasn't happy that her son would fall for the honeyed words of Lucius Malfoy and join Voldemort. Therefore, as she knew that I was very good at potions, and had similar talent to her son, she made me her unofficial apprentice. Until her untimely death, she taught me all the secrets of the art. It was also easy to manage with owl post. Like a correspondence course. During the school breaks, I went over to her secret lab, which Severus didn't know about, where she took care of showing me a lot of the practical secrets.

"Had he listened to his mother, he would have learned them too and if I now published some of the things I learned, he would recognise them as hers, but he doesn't. Not to mention that Eileen's secret collection of books went to me instead of him. She arranged a conditional portkey that was triggered by her death. Very useful for me. Of course, I don't plan to share the really useful parts, those will be used when I create my own potions series for all kinds of useful products that I can sell for a lot of money. Eileen told me how much money certain families pay for beauty potions, which are needed desperately, as the inbreeding caused the family lines to look hideous without the help of those potions," revealed Lily.

Petunia laughed lightly, "I can only imagine. I mean, Mum always insisted that we didn't marry close to our own lines, which was quite improbable here in England, as our parents' roots lay in Germany and Russia. But the idiots over here even married first cousins. No wonder that their magic levels fell like a stone over time and their looks suffered alike. By the way, do you have your eyes on a replacement for James? After all, as far as you told me, he was at least good in bed."

"Not quite yet. There are some candidates, but I will have to play grieving widow for at least a year until I won't be badgered about being cold-hearted over the death of my husband. Who is seen as a hero for fighting Voldemort repeatedly and then buying me enough time to get my baby away to safety so that I could take on the fiend," Lily cited some common opinions of people.

"Ah yes, you will have to play public opinion until it is seen as acceptable for you to look into another husband, if only because you want your son to have a father figure," nodded Petunia in understanding.

"What about you? I mean, what about Dudley's real father? Do you want to get together with him?" Lily wanted to know.

"I wouldn't mind, but sadly he is bound in a marriage contract that he can't get out of. And he has to stay married to his wife for at least five years before he would get anything from the family fortune. Her grandfather suspected him to be after her money and wanted to protect his family line. The contract also stipulates that one child has to be conceived during that time for him to have a right to any money, should the marriage fail afterwards, or his wife die, of course without any fault on his side. He has been married to her for two years now, meaning he can't get anything for another three years. And he didn't manage getting her pregnant yet, no matter what he tried. He suspects that the inbreeding in her family caused her to be infertile, but of course her family doesn't want to hear a word of that," explained Petunia.

"So, what will he do?" wanted Lily to know.

"He goes the same route I took. He got his wife to sign several life insurances in the muggle world. While that won't give him a fortune in the wizarding world, he has resigned to getting money via detour. He knows too well that if no child is born after seven years, or at least conceived, he will be let go by the family with a paltry sum for his attempted services to them. It's a shame, but we both knew that we wouldn't be able to be together easily when we both had to first gain financial security via our spouses. Too bad that the really large vaults are all in the hands of old pureblood families. And you also can't easily make enough money to not be dependant on getting into one of them," commented Petunia.

"Too true. Well, we have finished our family missions very well and can now concentrate on raising our wonderful little boys. And if we find good men to marry again one day, well, that's in the future and we don't have to worry about it right now," declared Lily, the sisters raising their glasses for a silent toast of a golden future for them and their children.


End file.
